Woolly mammoths and a Victorian clink among heritage on show

Woolly mammoths, a 19th Century clink, and a children's farm are among sights people can see for free as part of a heritage and culture festival in the West Midlands.

Volunteers and organisations are preparing to open the doors of dozens of Heritage Open Day venues across the region between 11-20 September.

The annual event, organised by the National Trust with Postcode Lottery, celebrates hidden histories on people's doorstep and includes places that would not normally allow public access, or normally charge.

Here are five things to see and do in the region.

Forty years ago, a couple walking their dogs in Condover, Shropshire, noticed a large bone protruding from the ground at a quarry.

Subsequent investigations dug up one of western Europe's most significant archaeological finds: the 14,000-year-old remains of five woolly mammoths, which were previously thought to have died out several thousand years earlier.

A recovered adult male skeleton proved to be the most complete ever found in Britain, while the bones of younger mammoths found alongside it were aged at between three and 15 years old.

Shropshire's mammoths are now being kept in purpose-built storage at Shropshire Museums Collections Centre in Ludlow.

Visitors can sign up to a 45-minute guided tour to see their remains close up at 10:00 on 12 September, pre-bookable through the organisation's website.

The Worcestershire farm has been welcoming youngsters to see its ponies, livestock and guinea pigs since 1951.

Founded by Dr Dorothy Beaumont to give undernourished Birmingham children "a breath of fresh air", the charity is celebrating its 75th anniversary with an exhibition of photos and documents.

The nine-acre site, with woodland and a stream, is still welcoming youngsters from deprived areas today, working with schools, social workers and health visitors.

It is open for all visitors to explore on 15 and 16 September between 15:30 and 17:30, with pre-booking required.

Also in Worcestershire, people will be able to watch a former Royal Worcester artist paint a classic English scene live between 11:00 and 15:00 on 15 September.

The drop-in event at Museum of Royal Worcester, on Severn Street, gives a rare close-up of the artistry and skill behind the city's 275 years of porcelain heritage.

Elsewhere, the tiny Gnosall Lock-Up is one of three surviving cells in Staffordshire built in response to civil unrest over rising unemployment in the 1830s.

According to heritage experts it confined "inebriates and miscreants", a World War Two German prisoner and a murderer, but by the 1950s had fallen out of use as a prison and become a hen house.

The Grade II listed structure was moved to its current location on Sellman Street in the 1970s after the council proposed widening the road junction where it was originally built.

It will open to the public on 12 September between 10:00 and 12:30.

In Birmingham, a 1.5 mile (2.4km) walking tour from Victoria Square marks 100 years since the General Strike, when two million across the country walked out in support of coal miners.

It explores key places and people involved in the nine-day dispute and lifts the lid on police clashes in the city, as well as its largest-ever May Day rally.

Taking place on 14 September between 10:00-11:30 and 17 September from 15:00 to 16:30, it is organised by Birmingham Trades Union Council and is one of a national programme of events to remember the strike.

A 90-metre (295ft) high pre-heater tower at Rugby's cement manufacturing plant is a local landmark - and visitors will be able to climb to the top of CEMEX as part of a tour that outlines the location's industrial heritage.

Cement has been manufactured on Long Lawford Road since the middle of the 19th Century, with the current plant producing 1.8m tonnes a year.

Pre-booked places on the 90-minute tour are available at various times on 17 and 18 September through Rugby Visitor Centre, with personal protective equipment provided.

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